In this week’s The Nation, writer David Enders in Baghdad interviews a man named “Ali Hussein” (not his real name), who claims to be a commander in what Enders calls the “resistance.” It’s interesting to note the courage of this “resistance,” as articulated from a “guerrilla” himself.

We have boys as young as 13 fighting with us. Some of them we use to tell us where American troops are, others we give grenades and they throw them at Humvees and Bradleys. We recently killed a man who owned a uniform company because he was making uniforms for the Iraqi army. We kidnapped a cousin of Mowaffak al-Rubaie [national security adviser for Iyad Allawi’s provisional government] and killed him…. There are so many stories of operations. Four days ago we killed four police officers. We warned them three times to quit. We have agents in the government, in the police.”

And here is an example of the ethics of Ali’s “resistance:”

We don’t let people play cards, we don’t let people drink. We warn the person, and then break his legs or kill him if he doesn’t stop.

To Enders’ credit he asks why the “insurgency” doesn’t also apply Islamic prohibitions against theft–which is, of course, one way the gunmen finance their operations. “Drinking and gambling lead to desperation,” says commander Ali.